Pervez Musharraf, the Pakistan leader who provided crucial support to the U.S.-led “war on terror” following the 9/11 attacks, has died at 79, the Pakistan military announced Sunday.
No cause of death was revealed, but Musharraf, had been battling a rare disease, amyloidosis, and was being treated at a hospital in Dubai, Pakistani media reported.
Musharraf seized power in 1999 from then-prime minister Nawaz Sharif in a bloodless coup. Sharif had tried to remove Musharraf from his position as military leader – a year after Sharif had appointed him.
The Pakistan military issued a statement expressing “heartfelt condolences on the sad demise of General Pervez Musharraf. … May Allah bless the departed soul and give strength to bereaved family.”
Musharraf forged close ties with US, George W. Bush
Musharraf served as president of the Islamic country from 1999-2008 and was a close ally of the U.S. and President George W. Bush after the 9/11 attacks. Bush referred to him as a “best buddy, and joint U.S.-Pakistani operations led to the arrests of dozens of leading Al Qaeda figures, including ringleader Khalid Sheikh Mohammed. But Musharraf’s swift partnership with Washington during its military intervention in neighboring Afghanistan drew mixed reviews at home.
Musharraf walked a political tightrope between pressure from the U.S. to crack down on extremism in Pakistan and the demands of a vocal, anti-American Islamist constituency.
Musharraf denied knowing where bin Laden was hiding
In the later years of his rule, Musharraf denied claims by NATO and the U.S.-backed Afghan government that he was allowing free movement Al Qaeda and the Taliban militants from Pakistan’s tribal areas into Afghanistan. He was further vilified in 2011 when U.S. forces killed Osama Bin Laden in Pakistan – in the fortress home near a Pakistan military academy where the Al Qaeda leader apparently had been living for years. Musharraf denied he knew bin Laden had been hiding there.
Death sentence handed down, revoked
After delaying elections for years after taking power, he was defeated at the polls in 200 and soon after left the country. He returned in 2013, but was arrested and barred from running for office. A Pakistani court sentenced Musharraf to death in 2019 after a six-year treason trial tied to the harsh state of emergency he imposed while clinging to power in 2007.
Musharraf was sentenced in absentia, having left the country while on bail in 2016 to seek medical treatment. Shortly after his conviction another Pakistani court threw out the death sentence, citing legal issues with the trial.
Contributing: The Associated Press